Five takeaways from UCLA upset win over Washington State

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Funny how a season’s complexion can change in a matter of hours.

On Saturday morning, UCLA was widely regarded as on its way to another unremarkable season. Unranked and unable to protect its freshman quarterback, the Bruins weren’t even sure how credible their defense was.

By sundown, the outlook had brightened like the sun radiating off the Rose Bowl’s seats. UCLA did a much better job of keeping Dante Moore upright during a 25-17 comeback victory over then-No. 13 Washington State that vaulted the Bruins back into the national rankings, at No. 18.

The defense might be the best it’s been since coordinator DeWayne Walker helped put USC on lockdown during that epic 13-9 upset in 2006. And everything UCLA (4-1 overall, 1-1 Pac-12) wants is back in play heading into another showdown against No. 15 Oregon State next weekend in Corvallis.

Here are five takeaways from UCLA’s first conference victory of 2023:

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How about that defense?

UCLA linebacker Jake Heimlicher bats down a pass by Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward.

It’s something to check the NCAA statistics and see UCLA’s defense ranked so highly in so many categories after so much dreck in previous seasons under Chip Kelly.

The Bruins are No. 2 nationally in rushing defense (64.6 yards per game allowed) No. 5 in total defense (254.2 yards per game allowed) and tied for No. 8 in scoring defense (12.2 points per game allowed).

Remember, new defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn gets a $50,000 bonus if UCLA finishes in the top 25 in total defense. He’s on track to snag a lot more than that — probably a new contract, at the very least, not to mention considerable interest from other college and NFL teams who will try to woo him away.

What’s most remarkable is that the Bruins’ improvement has come with largely the same personnel from last season. It’s just that everyone has elevated their play under Lynn, whose schemes have maximized his players’ talents.

UCLA held Washington State’s highly vaunted passing attack to 204 yards and while notching the first two interceptions of the season off Cougars quarterback Cameron Ward. Even in the instances when Ward eluded the pass rush, he was often unable to find a receiver because of the best performance of the season from the Bruins’ secondary.

“It was everything,” Washington State coach Jake Dickert said when asked what gave his team the most trouble. “It wasn’t just the top front seven. I mean, they just had waves of these guys coming in at you. I mean, their creatures — and I don’t say that in a bad way — these [guys] are big, long, they can rush the passer, they have aggressive schemes and they kept us off balance and we couldn’t offset it.”

This week presents a different challenge: an Oregon State ground game that has piled up 205.5 yards per game on the ground, No. 15 in the nation. If the Bruins shut down the Beavers, Lynn might be elected the next mayor of Westwood — even if he doesn’t run.

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A step forward

UCLA quarterback Dante Moore runs the ball against Washington State on Oct. 7

It wasn’t the sort of performance Moore wanted, but it was considerably better than his repeatedly crumbling under pressure two weeks ago against Utah.

Designed rollouts and some quick passes helped Moore elude defenders on the way to completing 50% of his passes for 290 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. He was also sacked four times, down from seven against the Utes.

Once again, Moore showed an ability to fire passes into tight spaces where only his receivers can catch them. But he also seemed to lose sight of a defender in his peripheral vision who intercepted a pass that probably shouldn’t have been thrown.

That’s two games in a row now that Moore has had an intercepted pass returned for a touchdown. Those are the plays he’s going to have to avoid the rest of the season if UCLA is going to sneak into contention for the Pac-12 title alongside Washington, Oregon and USC.

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Welcome back

UCLA running back Carsen Ryan runs a route against Bowling Green in 2022.

During his first five seasons at UCLA, Kelly’s teams had been known for heavy usage of tight ends in pass plays. Caleb Wilson, Devin Asiasi and Greg Dulcich were among the favorite targets.

By contrast, Moore had largely relied on his wide receivers … until Saturday.

Tight ends Molokai Matavao, Hudson Habermehl and Carsen Ryan combined for 160 of the Bruins’ 290 receiving yards. Matavao led the way among that group with three catches for 76 yards, with Habermehl making one catch for 43 yards and Ryan two catches for 41 yards.

Spreading the ball around so much will make the Bruins tougher to defend than just focusing on a handful of receivers.

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Special attention

UCLA coach Chip Kelly watches his players warm up before a win over Washington State on Saturday.

UCLA is going to have to come up with some answers for its special teams.

The Bruins went away from backup quarterback Ethan Garbers as the holder after four games for unspecified reasons, though it’s possible that he wants to preserve a redshirt season with Moore clearly entrenched as the starting quarterback. Garbers entered 2023 with three seasons left to play two, so perhaps he is capitalizing on that option because if he played in a fifth game he would no longer be able to redshirt.

With Blake Glessner serving as the holder, kicker R.J. Lopez missed an extra point and a 47-yard field goal while also having a 33-yard field goal blocked. Lopez also made field goals from 37 and 32 yards.

“One of the holds wasn’t great,” Kelly said, “but we will get to the bottom of that. But the rest of it … those first two it was just a miss, you know sometimes it’s just a miss but he hadn’t missed one yet. R.J. has been really really good and we will go over that whole and watch film and correct it so we will be good.”

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A Pac-12 special

UCLA wide receiver J.Michael Sturdivant runs with the ball after making a reception against Washington State.

Replays appeared to show that UCLA might have had two touchdowns taken off the board on catches by Ryan and J.Michael Sturdivant.

The juggling catch by Sturdivant in the corner of the end zone was initially ruled a touchdown before replay officials reviewed it and overturned the call. Kelly said he couldn’t comment on officiating.

Another oddity was UCLA linebacker Darius Muasau getting penalized for a “disconcerting signals” for a second consecutive game, this time as Washington State lined up for a field goal in the first quarter. What does that involve?

“We’ve discussed it with the league office and it’s up to the officials on game day,” Kelly said. “You’re not allowed to mimic their snap count and there is no snap count [on a field goal], so I’m just as confused as everybody else.”